I took a walk down memory lane yesterday. When I was in my teens and twenties, this shop was located at sunny Macalister Road. I love hanging around the place and would visit the secondhand bookshop every weekend. Back then, they have a lot of imported magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and etc from the UK and USA. The exchange rate was mere USD1 equivalent to RM2. You can find almost any book there. From sleazy Swedish p0rns to Mad magazine to Harlequin romance. I had my dose of Sidney Sheldon, Barbara Cartland, Jackie Collins, Harold Robbins etc etc. Usually, the shop will sell you the book for say, RM10. Once you finished, you bring it back and claim RM5 from them.
Unfortunately, these stall owners were forced to move to the Chowrasta Market. As you can see, it is not an ideal place for a stroll because of the stench from the wet market downstairs. It is awfully hard to find a parking too. Anyway, after I started having children, I do not have that much of time to hang around the stall anymore.
However, the place where the bookshops are is not stuffy or smelly or anything like that. One can still hang around to browse through the books. So, if you are really into grabbing cheap books and comics, please do make a trip there. Chowrasta Market is along Penang Road. You can go up the bookshop from the flight of stairs. (Please ask the locals for direction.)
Look out for this banner and head to Store A9. They have the most comprehensive range of books. The books are all stacked up so you have to take time to hunt for what you are looking for. Say hi to Goola Muhamed for me, ya? (the name sounds something like that) Hehehe, he is a Pakistani Muslim. He was a young man, an apprentice once but now he is old.
Remember to bargain, i.e. if you have the heart to haggle from the nice chap.
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on Nov 13th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
madame lillian,
thank you so much for blogging on my favourite place on earth (i love this place more than Hay-on-Wye, the first book town in the world). Everytime I go to Penang, I will never miss the chance to visit this place. Of course the bonet kereta sure penuh with books (esp old Reader Digest’s).
on Nov 13th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Yeah, I remember visiting these secondhand books stores in Macalister Road. My fave was SM Latif as he has the widest selection of books. I think it was these visits that cultivated my love for romance novels. I still have a closet full of those novels that took about 5 boxes to transfer when I moved house! Now I frequent the shop at Midlands since it is just downstairs from my office. The book selection is not so wide but then, I don’t have as much time for trash novels as I used to.